What is Dogecoin? Meet The Latest, Weirdest Star of Cyber Currency

Since the inception of Bitcoin in early 2009, the Internet-based economy has been flooded with numerous digital currencies, the latest of which is Dogecoin. Dogecoin is a cryptocurrency that started off as a joke, but has transformed itself into a real thing. Although Bitcoin is still the largest and most popular digital currency as of right now, Dogecoin has shown serious growth potential and has taken the Internet by storm, being fueled by its own ridiculously audacious momentum.

What Are Digital Currencies?

Digital currencies, or crytocurrencies, are computer-based currencies that are generated by deciphering algorithms. Because digital currencies are not specifically controlled by any banking institutions or government agencies, they are associated with inherently fewer fees and regulations than regular currencies. As many people see digital currencies as an ideal business opportunity, millions of people are investing real money into them which drives the price up and, somewhat ironically, makes them an ideal business opportunity.

What Is Dogecoin?

Dogecoin is a spin-off of Bitcoin that incorporates the doge meme into its interface. Interestingly enough, Dogememe started off as a joke, first proposed by a man who works for Adobe’s marketing department named Jackson Palmer in early December 2013. Being known for his geeky humor, Palmer tweeted that he was going to invest in Dogecoin and that he was pretty sure it was the next big thing. After friends insisted that he actually go for it, he bought Dogecoin.com a week later, which immediately became a huge hit among the dogememe fan club over at Reddit.com. Coincidentally, a programmer by the name of Billy Markus was trying to create his own digital currency in Portland, Oregon and happened to stumble upon the website only a day or two after it was launched. He contacted Palmer to squibble out a partnership agreement and immediately began breaking down the Bitcoin source code, which is publically available. Just three weeks later, Dogecoin has a total market value of $8 million and 10% of its 1 billion minable coins have already been deciphered.

Where To Buy And Spend Dogecoin

Dogecoin, among a variety of other digital currencies, can be exchanged at coinedup.com. Dogecoin is not yet nearly as popular or as well-established as Bitcoin or any of the other existing digital currencies so it is, so far, sparingly used. Right now, Palmer and Markus are working on a Facebook will allow Facebook users to send their friends dogecoins as easily as “Likes”. In the meantime, dogecoin can be spent on a variety of forums and community-based websites, where it is currently being used to “tip” other users for good advice or meaningful posts. Dogecoin can also be spent on the Internet-based casino designed specifically for Dogecoin, Doge-Dice.

For those interested in getting involved in Dogecoin, it can be mined much easier than Bitcoin from any home-based computer rather than strictly on expensive hardware. Dogecoin also offers roughly 1 billion coins compared to the 21 million coins that Bitcoin has.